Steam adds licensing disclaimer, GOG hits back with perfectly sarcastic response

Steam has become the biggest PC game store around for a variety of good reasons, however, one of the biggest issues gamers, especially older gamers, have had with the platform is the licensing of games — as opposed to traditional ownership. Now, in a response to a new California law targetting digital licensing Steam has had to be more transparent about its licensing practices. 

As part of this increased transparency, which all platforms will have to abide by in some way or another, Steam has added a disclaimer to store cart that reads: 

"A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam." 

It also points users to the Steam Subscriber Agreement, which explains the full disclosure. Good Old Games, a game distribution platform and online store that came about as a direct response to the industry trend of licensing games, issued a rather sarcastic, subtly scathing response to the new Steam disclosure with a humorous post to X. The post refers to Valve's new checkout banner and jokingly proposes its own checkout banner poking fun at the idea of game licences in general:

"A purchase of a digital product on GOG grants you its Offline Installers, which cannot be taken away from you." 

While this particular instance is a bit of fun and games, there are more legitimate concerns about game distribution via licences. The most obvious concern and criticism of the modern game distribution and sales model stems from longevity, specifically what happens to your games when Steam or the game's online repositories are taken offline for whatever reason — an issue that has come to the forefront just this year, with The Crew not only disappearing from Ubisoft's online store, but also being removed from gamers' libraries. 

The other large question mark around game licensing is inheritance. At the moment, there is no way for gamers to pass their games along to their family or friends when they die, although the EU is reportedly drafting laws that could force games to be inheritable.